


Canyons

by methequins



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Road Trip, Fluff, M/M, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-04
Updated: 2015-04-04
Packaged: 2018-03-21 04:22:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3677271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/methequins/pseuds/methequins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s strange how all through high school they were so distant. They were still friends, but they ran in different crowds and didn’t seem to find much reason to spend time together. They didn’t eat together at lunch. They rarely got together after school. Steve had felt like he didn’t even really know Bucky, not anymore.</p>
<p>But then they’d graduated and Bucky had proposed this road trip, saying he wanted to do it before he started basic, and he wanted Steve to come with him. Steve still didn’t really know why Bucky had picked him, of all people.</p>
<p>But he wasn’t complaining.</p>
<p>Because here, on long stretches of road that didn’t seem to lead anywhere in particular and nights stretched across the backseat of Bucky’s car while he snored quietly in the passenger side, everything seemed exactly as it was meant to. Steve hadn’t thought about Bucky in such a way in a long time, hadn’t thought he ever would again, but every minute they spent together he found himself falling in love all over again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Canyons

“Are you scared?”

Bucky sees Steve prop himself up on his elbow to face him out of the corner of his eye. But he stays where he is, on his back, staring up at a sky full of more stars than he ever could have imagined. “About what?”

He knows about what. And Steve knows that he knows. He huffs and rolls his eyes in annoyance at Bucky’s feigned obliviousness.

“About basic.”

“Oh.” The answer is a resounding yes. Bucky has absolutely no idea what to expect once he gets to basic training, and even less so once he’s finished it and actually gets shipped out. And the not-knowing is terrifying. It’s as if his future is just a blank void at the moment, where he knows something should be, but he can’t even begin to fathom what. “I guess. A little. Aren’t you scared about college?”

“A little,” Steve admits. “But mostly I’m excited.”

This current trip is the furthest Steve has ever been outside the city, the longest he’s ever been away from home. They’re on the hood of Bucky’s car, parked on the side of the road that runs right along the edge of the Grand Canyon. And the world and the future seem so far away in this moment that it’s weird to even fathom.

“I don’t want to talk about that right now,” Bucky says.

“Okay.”

So they don’t.

Steve is wearing a sweatshirt, his own jacket, and Bucky’s jacket, and he’s still shivering because even the desert gets cold at night. Bucky’s jacket helps the most – it’s thick and leather, warm and big and scented with cigarette smoke and Bucky’s soap. It’s nice.

“Jesus, Steve, your lips are blue,” Bucky says. He sits up and moves a little closer. He puts his arm around Steve and pulls the small boy into the warmth of his body.

“I’m fine,” Steve insists, but he doesn’t try to move away.

Bucky’s hair is pulled back into a messy bun and the moonlight is highlighting the contours of his face and he looks so beautiful that Steve wants to draw him, to preserve him in this moment, bottle it in a jar and hold it close to his heart even when they’re separated. But getting his sketchpad would require moving out of Bucky’s embrace and that’s not really an option so he just tries to commit the image to memory, instead.

It’s strange how all through high school they were so distant. They were still friends, but they ran in different crowds and didn’t seem to find much reason to spend time together. They didn’t eat together at lunch. They rarely got together after school. Steve had felt like he didn’t even really know Bucky, not anymore.

But then they’d graduated and Bucky had proposed this road trip, saying he wanted to do it before he started basic, and he wanted Steve to come with him. Steve still didn’t really know why Bucky had picked him, of all people.

But he wasn’t complaining.

Because here, on long stretches of road that didn’t seem to lead anywhere in particular and nights stretched across the backseat of Bucky’s car while he snored quietly in the passenger side, everything seemed exactly as it was meant to. Steve hadn’t thought about Bucky in such a way in a long time, hadn’t thought he ever would again, but every minute they spent together he found himself falling in love all over again.

He was treading on dangerous territory but he found it impossible to care.

“Look,” Bucky says. He points with the arm that isn’t around Steve, up into the sky. “That’s the big dipper, see? It’s only visible in the summer. And it’s the only constellation I can ever find,” he admits with a sheepish smile.

“One more than me,” Steve says. He isn’t surprised that Bucky knows where at least one constellation is; he’s always been into science, and Steve was actually a little taken aback when he’d heard that Bucky was going into the army instead of pursuing that interest. “I’ll remember it, though. This. When I see it from now on this is what it’ll make me think of.”

“Aw, come on.” Bucky’s smile widens, and he looks almost embarrassed. Steve grins back.

“It’s true! This whole trip has just been… kind of amazing. And it isn’t even close to being over yet. I swear, I’m going to remember all of this for the rest of my life.”

Because of you, he wants to add, but he’s too much of a coward to admit it aloud.

“Yeah, I’m really glad we did this, yknow? I’m glad that you came with me.” Something in Bucky’s expression softens. “You know, Steve–“

“Don’t,” Steve interrupts. “No talking about the future, remember? Let’s make that apply to the past, too. Let’s just be here, and now, with you and me and this car and the night and each other. Okay?”

Bucky blinks. “Okay,” he echoes quietly.

And then he kisses Steve.

Taken off-guard, Steve doesn’t quite know what to do. He almost pulls back out of surprise. But he doesn’t want to pull back, he wants Bucky to kiss him, and he knows if he pulls back then Bucky will think Steve doesn’t want him to kiss him and Steve will be too embarrassed to correct him. So he closes his eyes and kisses back, one hand carefully wrapping around a fistful of Bucky’s hoodie.

It isn’t too long before Bucky pulls away, and he’s smiling, and Steve is just sporting a dazed, deer-in-headlights sort of expression.

“I was just going to say I’m gonna miss you,” Bucky says quietly. “I already miss you, and you’re still here.”

“Stop,” Steve says, and it comes out sounding sort of pathetic even to his own ears. “Stop saying things like that. We’re focusing on the present, remember? Because I don’t know what the future is going to be like and neither do you, so let’s just stop thinking about it. Stop thinking about it and be together.”

“I can do that,” Bucky says.

He kisses Steve again. Steve melts into the warmth and forgets the cold, forgets that soon they’ll be apart for who knows how long, that soon they’ll both be embarking on very different and terrifying journeys all by themselves. He forgets the sky, and he forgets the canyon, and he forgets the car. He forgets that anything at all exists except for himself and Bucky and the way their lips slowly connect. And he thinks, of everything, this is the moment he’ll remember most of all.

**Author's Note:**

> [At Full Speed -- Jack's Mannequin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEn5aozylwQ)
> 
>  
> 
> spits. i don't even know what this is. i keep having feelings about this fucking au but this is all i've been able to make of it so far. maybe someday i'll actually write the whole thing. who knows. not me. anyways enjoy i guess


End file.
